Flames of the Past #4: A Tangle of Lies (A Ninjago Fanfiction)

Chapter 23

Everyone looked up as the interrogation room door opened, and Lloyd stormed out. The green ninja's eyes blazed with frustration, his hands dug into his pockets.

The ninja team stepped toward him. "Well?" Cole prompted.

Lloyd stared at him, then at the others. Without reply, he turned and stormed down the hallway.

The green ninja's behavior caused tension to fill the room.

"Oh, great," Jay said sarcastically. "If they managed to get something out of Lloyd, we're all screwed."

The ninja exchanged uneasy looks when the door opened again and one of the detectives stepped into the hall.

"We'll take the black ninja next," he told them.

Cole tensed. His heart pounded in his chest. He glanced back at his teammates nervously; they gazed back.

Nya moved over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't do anything wrong," she reminded him quietly. "You'll be fine."

Cole drew in a deep breath, nodding. Ignoring the anxiety swarming inside of him, he walked into the room. Rainy bounded after him.

The room was dark except for the white lamp on the table. Cole sat on the empty chair, scratching Rainy's head as she settled beside him.

"What do you remember about the fire?" the male detective began.

Cole avoided direct eye contact. "I remember hearing the first one go off," he confessed, reaching into his memories. "Then I smelled smoke. I ran out of the kitchen and... I saw the next one go off."

The detective nodded. "What was your first thought when you saw that bomb go off?" he inquired.

"'Oh my God, I'm gonna die,'" Cole replied without hesitation.

The other detective turned her face away to try and hide her amused smile. Cole glanced at her, but his attention was pulled away again with the man's next question.

"Were you injured at all during this time?"

Cole blinked. "Sure," he said. "I mean, n-not as badly as Lloyd and Kai, but I got some minor burns. Didn't everyone?"

The detectives looked at each other. "I'd say that checks out," the man murmured to her.

"Checks out?" Cole echoed, glancing from one to the other. "What does that mean?"

"Don't worry about it." The man turned back to him. "What were you doing in the kitchen?"

"Um... eating. What else would I be doing?"

"According to our investigation, the kitchen wasn't hit by a direct bomb," the man answered. "It was a great place for the guilty to hide out until everything was in motion."

"I—I didn't know bombs were going to go off," Cole stuttered. "I-I wasn't in the kitchen for that reason, I was just hungry!"

The man didn't seem convinced. "How quickly did you get out of the burning palace?"

"Pretty quickly, I guess—but what has that got to do with anything?" Cole's eyes flicked back and forth as he grew more anxious. He found his gaze staying on the woman longer each time. He couldn't make out much underneath her oversized trench coat, but there was just something about her. "Why isn't she saying anything?" he wondered.

"What do you know about the case?" the man demanded, ignoring his question.

Cole turned back to him. "Well... I know whoever did set the bombs is here in Trynia somewhere," he admitted.